ALL DONE!

Throughout the history of mankind, men and women with great ideas have faced opponents. Whether it's creating a nation, an invention, a family or even a career, visionary people have faced roadblocks placed there by those who believe their ideas to be better.

Ken Follett's epic novel, "Pillars of the Earth," is about the struggles to build a cathedral during the Middle Ages. Without modern machinery, everything must be done by hand - every stone quarried, hauled, cut, measured, shaped, lifted and set in place by human hands or crude machinery. Without (sometimes even with) the protection of God or Church, king or nobleman, the builder is opposed by someone who doesn't want the job done. So the cathedral is started then burned, rebuilt then smashed, rebuilt and destroyed, and then rebuilt again. The book's cathedral takes fifty years to build. In reality, some European cathedrals took five hundred years to complete, and in the process they often impoverished the people with conflict and constant financial demands.

Today Lent is almost over. I have been preaching midweek services on the "Seven Last Words from the Cross" and this week will concentrate on, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). When Jesus said, "Tetelesthai!" His work was done. His years on earth, His ministry among the people, His establishing the New Kingdom, His keeping the Holy Law, His taking on Himself the sins of the world -- all these monumental things were over. "It is finished!" meant achievement not defeat, completion not quitting.

A mother who has raised a large family, a man who has finally paid off his house, a doctor who has studied medicine ten or twelve years, a middle aged woman who is finally getting married, or a man who finally retires after working fifty years -- all these know the meaning, "It is finished!" Yet not all is finished. A parent's task is not over, the house needs maintenance, the doctor needs patients, the marriage needs work, the retirement is just beginning.

"It is finished!" for us usually means more to come, but with Jesus His task is truly done. "It is finished!" for Jesus means nothing else is needed for salvation. No human effort, no sacrifice, no obedience, no act of mercy can add to what Jesus has already done. We cannot make His perfection more complete. Our faith will benefit us, but it won't change what Jesus did. He endured the cross victoriously, and in three days, the world would know it. He finished the task, and all people for eternity would be the beneficiaries. "It is finished!"

Give thanks we are His beneficiaries, by faith in Him alone.